Let's get this out of the way: Your correspondent is a fan of St. Anger. Granted, that's relative term—Metallica hasn't put out a consistent, quality album since 1991 (aside from the excellent live set S&M—-but the more lo-fi, raw approach to the album helped me believe for a moment that the band hadn't become a shiny, arena act, even if it did headline arenas. A majority of the band's fans disagree with my analysis however, referring to St. Anger in the same light as Chinese Democracy, a massive disappointment. With that in mind, a trio of fans have gone about rerecording the entire album, produced in a way they feel will make it more appealing (from Loudwire).
You can check the full product, titled #StAnger2015 out on YouTube.
Daryl Gardner (guitar/bass/drums), Dave Cox (vocals) and Chris Dando (production) cut more than 16 minutes from the original, down to a more mainstream 59 minutes while cleaning up the production. No, they didn't add any guitar solos however.
"The production is also more conventional, and we hope that Metallica fans appreciate this new version of an album that is always looked at as an anomaly in the incredible career of the world's biggest metal band, Metallica," said Gardner.
First of all, kudos for the trio for even attempting to rerecord an entire thrash album. That said, we're not convinced. Gardner is a hell of a musician, and lives up to the essential Hetfield/Hammet/Ulrich trio. Cox, while a good pass off for Hetfield, still isn't right on the mark (at no fault of his own) and that throws this off from being a true recreation. And, for reasons listed above, we enjoy St. Anger entirely because of its production style (although Gardner et al do record at a lower volume to combat the classic complaints against Rick Rubin's style during the original).
If you've got time to listen to the hourlong project let us know what you think. Or if you think St. Anger sucks, you can tell us that too.
